In the art of perfumery, substances possessing an odoriferous amber-like note have always been regarded as being of primary interest. In most cases these substances find an extensive use in the preparation of a great variety of perfume compositions of different nature, namely for the fine perfume compositions.
The amber fragrance acts as a fixative on most of the commonly used perfuming ingredients and possesses an amplifying effect when used in "Chypre"-, "Fougere"-, flowery-, woody-, leathery-, oriental- or animal-type compositions wherein it increases at the same time their diffusiveness. In modern perfume compounding the amber fragrance is particularly appreciated in perfume compositions for men perfume lines. Until the 1940's, ambergris, a product of animal origin, represented one of the few substances used for reproducing the typical amber fragrance. Its availability is however extremely poor and consequently its price particularly high. Following the extensive investigations carried out by Ruzicka -- cf. Helv. Chim. Acta 29, 912 (1946) -- and by Lederer -- cf. Helv. Chim. Acta 29, 1354 (1946) -- on the structure of ambreine, which is one of the major constituents of ambergris, the chemical industry undertook a great deal of effort in order to synthesize new chemical species able to develop an amber odour. The chemical literature contains numerous references to bicyclic or tricyclic derivatives, namely derived from sclareol or from manool -- cf. W. Sandermann and R. Casken, Parfumerie und Kosmetik 54, 335 (1973) --. Nowadays, most commercially available amber-type products consist of a mixture of materials simulating the odour of ambergris and are sold under various trade names.